November 2013
Kiyoshi Yamada
The Research Society for Survey on Broadcasting Policy, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), which was established in November 2012, announced the “First Report” on August 9th, 2013, after having held twelve discussion sessions. As the three main items on their agenda, “international broadcasting,” “certified broadcast holding companies,” and “NHK services using the Internet,” are linked with issues that are intimately related to the essentials of the broadcasting system, there have been repeated debates and reviews on these issues, in response to changes in environment such as technological innovation. The purpose of this article is not to introduce the details of the results of the discussions, but to confirm the direction of the Research Society, based on their fundamental ideas regarding each issue that have been presented at past meetings, in order to understand the intention of the First Report, namely whether the Research Society is following the conventional direction or has found a new direction to follow. In addition to this, since three study groups MIC that were established in tandem with the Research Society to discuss issues in parallel, including the Study Group on Upgrading of Broadcasting Services, have been studying issues that may impact the broadcasting system in the future, the author also examines the relations between the agenda of the Research Society and that of the three study groups.